1st semester nursing student here. This might sound silly but I shake like crazy when someone is watching me do something. Is this a normal part of nursing school? If so, when did it get better for you? I know my hand cannot be shaking when I’m inserting sensitive items (IV, Catheter) I’m so worried I won’t be able to control it.

I had a check off where I had to draw a 5 units of insulin while the CI watched and my hand was shaking so much I could barely draw up the medication. So embarrassing.

I was in my last term of nursing school , failed my first exam so I needed to work really hard for the next two .I did. The growth in score is incredible but ultimately I failed critical care by 4 points. I got dismissed and had to drop it classes. I was 9 credits away from graduation :(
anyways I don’t know what life foward rightnow looks like. 128 credits ! Potentially down the drain

Has anyone gonna back and and transferred to school that took your credits and got your BSN within a year ?
I just need some realistic information and motivation that all I did for 10 years wasn’t for nothing

Applied for a nursing program at my local technical college. I’m 39 with a 12 year old. I plan to go full time and want to hear if it’s worth my time and effort. Really nervous but hopeful I’m doing the right thing for my future.

Hi i’m 22F. I have been a HCA for about a year and I know I can’t work as HCA forever but i’m so scared of starting my LPN because im not the brightest student. Like im a very slow learner and where I live we have accelerated program only. Just wondering if you guys could give me some tips n tricks on how to make it in school. I dont wanna waste time or money bcuz it is a lot of money to lose.

I genuinely need advice from other nursing students or nurses because I’m at my breaking point with nursing school. I KNOW the material, I understand it in clinical, and I do well when practicing, but when it comes to exams, I struggle so badly. I constantly narrow questions down to two answers, second-guess myself, and end up choosing the wrong one.
I’ve tried different study methods, practice questions, and even recently got approved for ADA accommodations. I literally drove an hour away today just to earn extra credit because I’m trying everything I can to pass.
It’s so discouraging knowing the information but not being able to reflect that on exams. I’m starting to question whether nursing school is even for me. Has anyone else struggled with test-taking specifically? What actually helped you improve your exam scores? I genuinely need advice because I don’t want to give up, but I’m exhausted. 💔

I’m in med surg 1 currently in my ADN program I’m passing everything else except med surg I just feel so discouraged my professor already told me to drop out and they denied my memory aid for my IEP my Clincal instructors tell me how exceptional I am and rely that to my professors but I feel like they don’t see it. And I know failing a class isn’t the end of the world but I’m trying so hard any extra credit I’m their I drove an hour today from my house to get 3 points for my test + extra credit homework I need a 76.5 to pass which rounds up to a 77 right now I have a 68 and we have a lot of tests still left I feel like I can do it I just feel so desperate and defeated 😞 and others are failing the class as well not just me but others are passing so I know I’m not the only one who feels the same, I don’t work like that, I don’t have any kids or dogs like other people in my program I’m the youngest being 19 I feel overwhelmed and I know this is my passion but I feel burnt before even starting.

If anyone has any advice or just some encouraging words that would be nice, thank you for listening to my message.

I 40m, decided to go back to be a nurse in my 30s. I felt like nursing was a good fit for my personality. I like helping people. I already have my bachelor's degree but I just couldn't find my way up any corporate bullcrap ladder so I went back to school to be a nurse because I had already worked in behavioral health for 10+ years. At any rate, I spent 4 years doing prerequisites for an ADN nursing program. I spent another 2 on a waitlist. I got in and failed my first block. I spent a year doing an added prerequisite and getting back in. I am in my last semester on my second try and I am about to fail out. At my school it's 2 failures then out. I am so sad.

I am going to be able to be an LPN since I was able to take a step out course but it feels insulting given the time and energy I put in to this. I can't help but feel that the past year and a half were wasted. If we are lucky, we get 80 trips or so around the sun. 80 summers, 80 winters, 80 springs and 80 falls. I feel like I wasted 4-5 of them. I'm also sad that this is not turning out like it was supposed to. I feel ashamed like I let my family down since they were along for the journey, like I am being slapped across the face with a horses*** consolation prize with the LPN certificate, like I wasted time I feel like I don't have even though I'm only 40, and just all around sad.

I feel like an ADN was going to give independence, open a lot of doors for any kind of specialty and now that is going to close. Please don't get this twisted. I respect the absolute crap out of LPNs and just as much out of CNAs/UAPs (as I was one for a good amount of time), but LPNs don't have the same amount of wiggle room for specialty. I feel like I was robbed of going out and learning by doing rather than being in classes and tortured by the overhanging thought of failure and tests and practicums and clinicals. I missed my nieces birthdays and didn't take vacations and blew money on a year and a half of school that didn't even pan out. Now I can't go back because I feel like it is unconscionable to ask my family to continue on because I would have to start back at block 3 and also I do not have the money to continue on as this was all the savings I had set aside for school. My family has been supportive but they are wearing. I would like to continue in the future but that is not possible for 10 years (ballpark). I feel like this dream is dead and I'm grieving and all the tears I want to cry are just not coming out.

Sorry if this is TLDR. I don't know what I expect with this. Partially weepi... I mean venting, partially asking if anyone else has been an LPN not by choice. If so, did you go back to nursing school and finish? Did you enjoy being an LPN? Should I just get over it?

Long story short, career changing. Have a BSCS. Finishing nursing pre-reqs and applying to ADN programs. Goal was ultimately CRNA, however realizing MD/DO is feasible but would need ~80 credits of A's to fix my GPA. Thinking of taking Physics I/II, OChem I/II, BioChem during Nursing school. All nursing pre-reqs have been A's. Just curious if anyone else has taken additional courses on top of the ones scheduled for their cohort? Thanks!

To keep things short I am currently in school for pre-radiology and am having some thoughts of changing majors to nursing. Specifically LPN then LPN to RN. Realistically, what makes a good nurse and is my goal even worth it? I specifically want to do Hospice since I feel like a hospital or er would burn me out fast. I do not have anybody really to talk about besides for at work and I’ve been told a number of things.

I got into a LVN -RN program after being an LVN for a year and a half. I found out that orientation for the program is the week I'm scheduled to be out of the country on a trip with my kids. This trip has been planned for over a year, with thousands spent already (we have trip insurance). I'm now faced with the decision to cancel our trip for orientation, or reapply for the program/another program. I'm sure I'll get a bunch of comments about me being stupid to even question not attending school for a vacation, but this is something my kids and I have been looking forward to. I've already reached out to the school and been told it is mandatory with no work around.

It’s close to time for me to choose for my practice…. We get 2 specialties and have to pick one med surg unit and they’ll assign us to one of them.

I’m thinking of putting a surgical trauma ICU as one of my top picks but I’m just lost on where to go. We haven’t had our critical care rotations yet, and I work in a nursing home now as a LPN so I feel like no matter where I go I’ll be floundering.

Where did you go for practicum? Do you think it helped you with your career as a RN? I honestly don’t want to work at the hospital we’re doing practicum at, but it’s the more local option and therefore the only one my school does partnership with.

I’m 4 weeks into my program and I’m already seriously questioning whether this is worth it.

What’s wearing me down:

• I’m struggling to make friends
• I have a 1 hour commute that involves public transportation which I hate
• The wakeups are early and the policies are cruel. One missed lab and you fail the class.
• I’m sleep deprived most days and always stressed
• The constant lack of respect and prestige. The fact that you can FEEL people laughing at you silently as you perform degrading acts of service.

The part I can’t stop thinking about is the payoff. SWEs make double or triple what a nurse makes for a fraction of a fraction of the work and suffering. Don't believe me? Search up Levels.fyi (WARNING: DO NOT GO ON THIS SITE IF YOU ARE HAVING A BAD DAY IN NURSING SCHOOL).

Look guys, I’m not saying nursing isn’t "meaningful", but at 5am on very little sleep, the reward at the end looks pretty thin next to what’s available elsewhere.

Every morning when I am forced to wake up to attend another round of this shit, I feel intense waves of hatred, resentment, fury, rage, indignance and regret.

For anyone who has been in this spot: did you think about quitting? What did you decide, and do you regret it? Did the first few weeks turn out to be the worst of it?

hey guys I’m 21 (F) in my third out of fifth semester of nursing school and I have been looking for a PCT job all this year and have had no luck, I got two interviews one offer and it didn’t end up working out to do an extremely important appointment in my life during the same week. I am so frustrated and I really want a job to help get my foot in the door. Any tips? I’m in the Houston area

Hello, so I’m (27f) currently in nursing school and back in a big city. I frankly cannot wait to move back here again because I was in my hometown once again for two years and I was pretty bored and there was nothing to do but at least I got some experience in a clinic. The thing is, I’m just torn. A part of me wants to move out after I graduate to another big city to have a first start and to have a new scenery around me. However, my parents keep begging for me to stay here in this city because it’s closer to them and it’s cheaper than for example, Austin. I have good and bad memories in the big city where currently am and I’m not so sure if I wanna stay here. I do know people here but I have like two people I call best friends and the sad thing is that I never see them and they never initiate plans so I do feel lonely. And if I were to move out, I would also feel lonely because I wouldn’t know anyone in the new city so yeah I’m pretty sure about this. I have no idea what to do and need advice. What should I do? I have no kids nor partner by the way. I’m so jealous of people that live in big cities with their families.

Warning this is a long post but I just wanted to share something I’ve been going through these last three weeks.

I’m only in week 8 of my first semester of an ADN program and it has definitely been a journey.

I started the program motivated and excited (with the goal of eventually working in L&D). But after struggling through a head to toe assessment because I was so nervous and kept forgetting steps, I fell into a rabbit hole of anxiety and self doubt that I’m only now starting to come out of.

I started questioning absolutely everything. Whether nursing was really for me, whether I had the compassion necessary to be a good nurse, and whether I even wanted to perform the roles of a nurse. I went from loving my prerequisites and being excited about nursing school to researching completely different majors and convincing myself I needed to leave.

The anxiety has been unlike anything I’ve experienced before. I’ve struggled with my appetite, sleep, and constant feelings of dread. I genuinely felt like I was losing myself over something I had worked so hard to achieve.

Yesterday I actually went into my student portal and selected to withdraw from all my classes. For whatever reason, the system wouldn’t process my request and told me I needed to contact the campus instead.

At first I was frustrated because I felt done and just wanted it to be over. But after thinking about it, I started wondering whether this was a sign to give myself another chance.

Today I had my third hospital clinical on a med-surg floor. I was absolutely dreading it this morning, but surprisingly it wasn’t a bad day. I found myself genuinely caring about the patients I encountered, and for the first time in weeks I felt a little bit of the compassion and motivation I thought I’d lost.

I’ve spent so much time focusing on everything that could go wrong and convincing myself that one bad assessment meant I wasn’t cut out for nursing. But I’m starting to realize that struggling with a skill doesn’t mean I’ll never become good at it.

I still have a lot of anxiety to work through, and I’m definitely scared of what the rest of this semester and the next three will bring. But today was the first day in weeks that I felt hopeful about my future again.

I’m not saying I’ve figured everything out, but I’m glad I didn’t make a permanent decision during what might have been one of the lowest points I’ve experienced in my life.

I’m not really sure what the point of this post is other than to get everything off my chest. Maybe someone else who’s struggling with the same feelings will read this and feel a little less alone.

I’m just taking it one day at a time. Hopefully in a year and a half when I graduate I’ll look back on this moment as part of the journey that made me a stronger nurse. 🫶🏻

Hi everyone,

I’m a mature student with a BA that only got me low-wage jobs with no real future. This year, after a lot of research, I started taking first-year engineering courses, and so far it’s been a huge challenge. I spend most of my time studying, and I’m completely burned out. I’ve also put every other part of my life on hold (no dating, no social life). I don’t think I’m smart enough for electrical engineering, so I’m considering civil instead.

I saw a recent post from someone thinking about switching into engineering, and a few female engineers commented that they’d gone the other way. So I’m curious: why did you switch from civil (or another engineering field) to nursing? Are you happier now?

I used to work with domestic violence survivors. I know I love helping people, and I can handle hearing difficult things, but I’m not sure I could handle seeing traumatic things. I had to take care of a sick parent when I was younger, which was very hard, and I saw firsthand how bad things are in hospitals. So I’m scared of switching to nursing.

Since I already have a BA, I could finish nursing in about 2–3 years, or a Bachelor of Social Work in about two. Either way, I’d plan to continue on to an NP program or an MSW. I don’t need to make a lot of money; I just don’t want to be underpaid or stuck with poor job stability and availability.

I’m in a pretty rough place mentally right now, and I’d really appreciate any advice. TIA!

Hey all,

I’m currently an LPN who is back in school to take my prerequisites for the bridge program.. I’m currently in A&P 1 with my psych class also starting this week. After this semester I’ll just have 4 classes left: A&P2, Chemistry, Microbiology, and Stats… I haven’t don’t too well on my first two A&P exams, but somehow am maintaining an 89%.

My problem is that I’m struggling with motivation and giving my all. I don’t feel as hungry as I did when I was getting my LPN. I feel like having 6 prerequisites to do all together feels like A LOT. Especially since people are saying “Just do one class at a time”.

I feel like the classes will be too tough to stack on top of one another - like 2 for spring and 2 for fall. But if I do one at a time, I won’t be able even apply for the bridge program until 2029 🙃🙃

Any advice ya’ll? Cause I’m STRUGGLING.

I recently started a PRN PCT job as a critical care float, working in different ICUs and step-down units. I’m hoping to become a critical care nurse, so I was really excited about the hands-on experience, especially with lab draws since we don’t get many opportunities to practice them in nursing school.
Unfortunately, I’ve been really unsuccessful with my sticks. I only work once a month (I am prn), and lately, I’ve been getting discouraged to the point where I sometimes give up before trying. The nurses seem annoyed when I can’t get the labs, which I partly understand, but I’m also frustrated with myself because I genuinely want to improve.
Has anyone else struggled with blood draws as a new PCT? How did you get better and build confidence?

passing is a 78 or above in my program.

exam 1 fluid and electrolytes and lung disorders: 79
exam 2 cardiovascular: 77
exam 3 diabetes, urinary, and male repro: 70

two exams left and then a final

my study method is clearly failing me and here is what it is:

rewrite all notes, go back and highlight everything i highlighted on the powerpoint in class, practice exams.

very upset bc i was extremely confident for exam 3 thinking i would get at least a 90.

considering doing concept maps bc now im barely passing the class with a 79.

any suggestions? anyone have success using concept maps? pls help im terrified.

I’m currently in my last semester of my ADN program and we all just received our practicum placements. I have maintained great grades throughout the program and even received an award during my last clinical rotation. I have two friends in class that out perform me and 1 is top of the class.

Myself and my friends didn’t even get one of our top choices. People who have failed a semester got the placements we wanted which makes this even more incredibly frustrating. I think I would be less disappointed if I got med surg but I was placed at PACU.

I don’t think anyone understands outside of the nursing world how much placement matters considering it’s our chance to get a job offer. That’s why I’m venting here.

My school uses ATI for homework, quizzes, and exams. We have PowerPoints for lecture that are from the textbook but then even after learning those, it feel like you can’t even apply that knowledge to the ATI module tests/quizzes or you’ll completely fail. They have so much info that isn’t mentioned in our lectures.

This is my first semester and our first round of exams are coming up. I’m wondering if it makes sense to just start using the ATI books as a main study source instead of the PowerPoints they give us. Has anyone had any success with a study method like this at their school?

I posted in here a couple months ago looking for help as I had completely bombed my first exam in my final quarter of an ABSN program and was so overwhelmed with how much catch-up I needed to do in order to pass. I'd already failed OB and Peds in the past, was graciously re-enrolled into the program, and a third failure would have been a dismissal for sure.

My issue wasn't not knowing the material, it was not having enough confidence in myself, getting stressed out during the exam, and convincing myself I didn't actually know the right answer so I changed my answers to something incorrect. I reached out to my instructor for private tutoring, I contacted tutors affiliated with my school, I started doing 200+ questions a day from Saunders Evolve in 50 question exam format to try and desensitize myself to the exam formats.

I attended every extracurricular session that existed, contacted as many people as I could. My school offered sessions on tackling test anxiety, and recommended Mark K and Dr. Sharon's videos for test taking strategies.

A friend of mine had this board game called RNtertainment that's basically just Candy Land but with Saunders questions and the gamification of studying made it so much more tolerable!

Two months ago I was devastated, felt like I was drowning, like I was never going to see the end. I put my heart and soul into studying and gave my last two exams everything I had to try and pull my scores out of the gutter. I thought I was never going to have a future as a nurse.

Today, I received my RN license.

Hi all, Im currently in a CC ADN program and definitely want to get the BSN to be more a more competitive applicant (I am in California so the competition is what it is). I hear some hospitals will pay for their nurses' degrees but a) I dont want to sabotage my job prospects in a terrible market by appearing less attractive than someone who already has their BSN, b) I also don't want to appear a fianancial burden to an employer while in a competitive market, and c) I was wondering if it makes sense to not enroll in my first school year, but enroll in the second, so that more of the program is being paid by the job. But that also means you are farther away from completion when you graduate and if a tuition-paying job doesn't appear it means you once again are less attractive than someone almost done with the degree and stuck having a harder time finding that first job.

I have never heard of the strategy of starting the concurrent bsn in the second year to strategize getting the job to pay for more of it. It was suggested by a fellow student, and I've always been approaching getting through the BSN as something I'm trying to get through and out of the way as fast as possible because this is a second career for me and I want to move on and get to work already. It sounds kind of weird and in my experience in other fields employers want to spend as little as possible on their applicants.

(also if anyone has experience with University of Arizona online and whether its helped you get a cali job, lmk!)

Hi everyone! I’d love some advice from you, as I’m feeling a bit nervous about my decision.
My placements include 3 weeks in general medicine and 13 weeks in a surgical ward (vascular, gastro and urology), all in the same ward.
Originally, I planned to choose surgical for my new grad year because I already had experience there. However, I decided to take a chance and chose a small rural ED with around 5–6 beds for the full 12 months, with no rotation.
The problem is that I’ve never done an ED placement before, and I’m worried about the steep learning curve and whether I’ll be able to handle the responsibility as a new grad.
Would it be better to start in surgical, build my clinical skills and confidence, and then try to move into ED later? Or should I take this opportunity now, since getting into ED later might be more difficult?
For those who started in ED as new grads, especially in a rural ED, how was your experience? Would you recommend it?
Thanks so much for any advice! 🥰